33 BGs each plus BO equivilent units for the Soviets. 10-12 german Bgs stuck in the kessel with limited fuel and ammo and the Soviets "respawning" at random on each of the Soviet entry points (Sov flags).

The 20-23 "active german BGs would have to project, then maintain a salient to let the trapped forces break out to them

No no no no no no no no nooooooooooooo! Oh god no! Not more Russian BS.

At least make CC6 the Falaise Pocket, or Anzio onwards to maybe Rome? Korean War sounds cool too. The Pacific War would be a good CC7

How about something from the Arab Israeli wars...Golan Heights perhaps??

VoT

That would be awesome - I've often wished that CC would revisit one of the Arab-Israeli wars, because it has opportunities for tank engagements, as well as areas like the Golan heights, and street fighting.

A little history from Wiki on the 28th's attack and slaughter in the Green Hell.

The 28th Division was reinforced with armor, tracked transport Weasels and air support. Of its three regiments, one was deployed to protect the northern flank, another to attack Germeter, and the third to capture Schmidt, the main objective. The area had terrible terrain with the Kall Trail running along a deep river ravine. This was not tank country, despite the need for armor to support the infantry.

The attack by 28th Division started on November 2; the defenders were expecting it and were ready. The U.S. 109th Infantry Regiment was impeded after 300 yards by an unexpected minefield, pinned down by mortar and artillery fire and harassed by local counterattacks. One mile was gained after two days, after which the 109th dug in and endured casualties. The U.S. 112th Infantry Regiment attacked Vossenack and the neighboring ridge, which were captured on November 2. The 112th was then halted on the Kall by strong defenses and difficult terrain. The U.S. 110th Infantry Regiment had to clear the woods next to the River Kall, capture Simonskall, and maintain a supply route for the advance on Schmidt; again these were very difficult tasks due to weather, prepared defenses, determined defenders, and terrain. The weather prevented tactical air support until November 5.

The 112th captured Schmidt on November 3, cutting the German supply route to Monschau, but no American supply, reinforcement or evacuation was possible, as the Kall Trail was blocked. A strong German counterattack by tanks of 116th Panzer Division and infantry from 89th Division rapidly expelled the Americans from Schmidt, and they were unable to counterattack. For two days, the 112th remained hard pressed to hold its positions outside Schmidt.

On November 6, the U.S. 12th Infantry Regiment was detached from the U.S. 4th Division and sent to reinforce the 28th Division

Across the Kall Bridge the troops of the 28th US Infantry Division pushed forward at the beginning of November 1944 to capture the village of Schmidt. After a few days, the so-called Allerseelenschlacht (All Souls Battle) resulted in a disaster for the Americans. As American troops tried to retreat across this bridge to Vossenack, great parts of the Kall Valley were already cut off by the Germans. A German regimental doctor, Captain Guenther Stuettgen, managed to negotiate an unofficial ceasefire with the Americans at the Kall Bridge from November 7-12, in order to attend to the wounded of both sides. The lives of many American soldiers were saved by German paramedics[10].

At Vossenack, the 2nd battalion of the 112th disintegrated after constant shelling and fled a German attack. Following the providential arrival of two U.S. armored platoons of tanks and M10 Wolverine tank destroyers, supported by those 2nd battalion men who had held tight, and two companies of 146th Engineers operating as infantry, the Americans held on and the fighting for Schmidt continued until November 10.

The battle for Schmidt cost 6,184 U.S. casualties — compared with about 4,000 losses by the two divisions at Omaha Beach. German casualties were fewer than 3,000.[13]

How about something from the Arab Israeli wars...Golan Heights perhaps??

VoT

That would be awesome - I've often wished that CC would revisit one of the Arab-Israeli wars, because it has opportunities for tank engagements, as well as areas like the Golan heights, and street fighting.

Is this image from a mod that exists somewhere?

Sorry, didn't see this reply.

Yes. The screenie is from Demiurg's VoT (Valley of Tears) MOD for CCIII.

1. A total re-write of the engine. Doesnt need 3D or anything particularly new graphically, but just a re-working of AI/pathfinding/soldier behaviour in buildings and other cover/etc etc.

2. If not this, then a re-working of the current game where the strategic and tactical maps actually correspond. I.E. the Strat Map has companies as units of maneuvre, and what you commit to battle here is what you have to fight with on tac map.

3. And this is perhaps my most prefered result given the limited chances of option 1 - Why not make the next release a kind of 'Close Combat construction kit'. If some software could be written to 'open up' the current version of CC for ease of modding, combined with intuitive and easy scenario building 'kits', that would be great. All the maps thus far created could be rounded up, and you can leave the scenario building to the community, just as long as it is easy for all to do so. For example, you might select to use the 'West Front' kit, select 20 maps, put them together to make a strat map, quickly build some battle groups from the Western Front 44 'kit' (all made about 100 times easier than that currently is to do, hopefullly), and set some victory locations, and away you go. Then the community can easily build all kinds of scenarios, without the incredibly protracted, difficult, and unintuitive modding process. To be honest, H2H I only ever play custom made scenarios as the stock scenarios are pretty much all completely imbalanced in the first place. Name me one in LSA that isnt.

Operation Michael 1918 on the Western Front. Fast moving with determined resistance, withdrawls, night operations, raids, LTM's, devastating HA, lumbering tanks, machine gun battalions and searchlights all culminating in the Central Powers trying to break through the Allies in the Ancre and Somme rivers districts toward Amiens and finally Paris and the port channels in the north.

You know, I think they can get way better perceived AI quality just by improving the deployment algorithm a little bit. I've been taking a look at the default deployments The Longest Day has been giving me and I realized the AI is stuck working with setups like that. I probably wouldn't be able to do much with those setups so even a top notch AI would be hopelessly lost in a 15 min game.

Scrap the little scattered groups of units around flags. Stack the front line on defense! And on offense, defend the front line lightly and pick a place to put most of the attacking units.